This invention relates generally to sequential mail sorting, and, more particularly to the sorting of mail into a carrier walk sequence. The invention provides a software solution to the mail sorting problem.
Mail needs to be sorted in carrier walk sequence. In practice, all mail is not sorted for delivery. There are xe2x80x9choldouts,xe2x80x9d i.e., mail pieces that are not deliverable for various reasons. The reasons for such mail not being delivered may include change of address, temporary non-delivery, non-delivery day holds for routes that are not delivered every day, window call pickups, or holdouts for multiple delivery points (e.g. delivery to a company that will sort its own mail internally). It is necessary to provide an efficient off-loading of holdouts in the initial sorting pass.
Currently, holdouts must be manually removed from mail after a final sorting pass. The current Sort Sequence Generator software does not allow for the offloading of holdout mail types after an initial sorting pass. Holdout mail types are sorted sequentially with normal mail types. They are removed with the normal mail types after the final sorting pass has been completed.
Current Sort Sequence Generator/Sorting machines use the concept of inserting a separator card at the beginning of a holdout mail type during the sorting process. This enables removal of the holdout mail types after completion of the final pass from the sorting machine pockets.
The bundles of holdout mail must be hand-transferred to delivery trays at completion of the final pass of sorting. Or, at the end of the initial pass or intermediate passes, holdout mail types must be hand transferred to the sorting machine""s induction station for scanning and re-sorting.
Removal of holdout mail types after the initial sort pass increases the efficiency of the sort process by reducing the repeated handling and rescanning of holdout mail types.
It is therefore an object of this invention to generate sort sequence codes and interpret them for the sequential sorting of mail into a mail carrier walk sequence.
It is a further object of this invention to generate and interpret sort sequence code for xe2x80x9choldout mail typesxe2x80x9d to allow for the sorting and removal of xe2x80x9choldout mailxe2x80x9d from the mail sorting stream in the initial sorting pass of a multiple pass sequential mail sort or the final sorting pass.
The objects set forth above as well as further and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by the embodiments of the invention-described below.
The solution was to develop a way to process a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) sort plan and build a sort sequence plan which allows for the offloading of holdouts on an initial sorting pass. The operator or user could decide alternatively to sort holdouts on an initial or on a final pass.
A sort plan text file for the postal delivery zone, is read in, usually to a hard drive of a personal computer. The carriers whose routes are located in the postal zone are selected for sorting. The sort plan text file is read to determine the size (e.g. number of bins in the sorting machine) of the sorting machine needed to sort to the sort plan. Sort sequence codes are generated for the sorting of mail in a sequential order. Depending on options selected by the operator, sequence codes for holdouts are generated accordingly and placed into a sort plan binary file.
Options may include the identity of the pass in which holdouts will be offloaded, the holdout special handling categories to be used in the offloading pass, and the number of sequential sorting passes to use. Then, a sort lookup procedure hashes the sort plan binary file to allow for rapid lookup of the ZIP code and associated sort sequence codes included in the sort plan. The hardware then uses these sort sequence codes to sort the mail into the appropriate bin.
Other objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: